faithmd

Quote: Originally Posted by juliegeraci You can have anything that fits through a straw. I loved creamy soups the best. They kept me satisfied. Julie, why do you keep telling people that they can have things they probably shouldn't? Was it yesterday you told a woman who didn't tell us what stage diet she was on that she can have anything that goes through a straw I commented that we should not tell anyone that if we don't know what diet their MD wants them on. Now this OP tells us that her MD wants her on CLEARS until Sunday at noon and you tell her that creamy soups and "anything that fits through a straw" are okay? I just don't understand. I think for the most part you give good advice and I very much appreciate your responses to me and to others. But please stop telling people they can do something if we either don't know if they should do, or in this case, that we KNOW she shouldn't be doing. Everyone's doc is different, and I think we all should follow our OWN surgeon's advice, unless it is blantantly irresponsible (like telling us it's okay to have steak two days after banding or something).

Ahhh, I understand now. And adding the sugar and candy, well that's a no-brainer, is she a nutter? I admit, I ate some cotton candy (a little bit, and accounted for it's 110 calories per serving on my fitday) the past couple of days. But I can't imagine sticking to 800 calories a day and then sabotaging myself by eating candy. Heck, if I'm eating 2000 calories a day, I'm for darned sure it will be yummy food!

From what I've read around here and on other sites you very RARELY feel any restriction with a first fill, most folks say it takes 2, 3, or more fills to get there. What I don't get AT ALL is why you have to wait so long? That's INSANE. I'd ask why. It seems to vary between two and four weeks between fills for docs. It can take a couple of weeks for a fill to "kick in" so I guess that's why some will wait a bit longer than two weeks, but if your doc doesn't give you a good answer as to why not, I'd find another doc straight away

I purchased several sets of baby/toddler utensils pre-op and used those to eat with when I was at home, I would take a small salad fork to work to use. I read on another thread where someone was having great difficulty with the no drinking rule and their surgeon suggested putting a glass filled with ice CUBES on the table right when they sit down to eat. HE told her that whatever melted from the CUBES (I stress cubes, not crushed ice, melts too fast) was what she could sip on. Cubes don't melt that fast, so it was tiny amounts but it helped her. And I tried it, works.

I agree the first few days are the WORST, WasaBB and I totally agree that you have got to stay away from all refined/processed sugars. And you need to stop drinking things with artificial sweeteners in them. Artificial sweeteners intensify my snacking and sugar cravings. I have switched to Stevia or Blue Agave nectar. But WasaBB, I can't imagine saying someone has ONLY lost 40lbs in six months... That's fantastic and healthy loss at about 1-2lbs per week. I lost about that in six months and was THRILLED. Should I now reevaluate and be sad that I only lost 44lbs in six months? You know I luv ya, woman, and I'm not picking at you to be mean, but I just think that is a good loss.

I am looking forward to being able to hold up my .30-06 without feeling like I'm dying. And hiking in with my blind and gear will be soooooo much easier this year!!!

The supervised diet is for a number of things (BTW, mine was 12 months, I'm jealous of you 6 or even 3 month folks ). No idea mentioned some of them, getting used to life style changes, getting a mind set, etc. It also shows the insurance company that is going to pay loads of $$ for this surgery that you CAN make a committment to weight loss and that you will follow doctor's orders. After all, so much of WLS is following guidelines and changing our eating drastically. From their point of view, if we have dieted in the past and gained it back, or if we just continue to creep up on the scale every year, why is sugery going to magically cure all that? WLS requires a deep committment on our part and they just want to see some evidence of that committment in the form of a "supervised diet." Many insurance compoanies require a certain amount of loss on this diet, mine required 5% loss of my excess weight in that year. Worked out to 9lbs, so certainly they weren't forcing me to lose a LOAD of weight, just enough to show I cared.

Awesome, Glinda!

Babygrl, WOOHOO on the two lbs during the TOM! Areal, you are doing great!

D'oh!!! jinx! LOL!!

Name.............................Starting….Current…...Goal….....To Go losingjusme........................293...........2 94............266...........29 juliegeraci...........................226......... ...226............206...........20 areellady.............................251.5....... ..246.5.........230...........16.5 punkeyb88..........................306............ .238............225...........13 Chris_NJ.............................326.......... ..322............290...........32 PaulaD................................222......... ...222............200...........22 MM.....................................248........ ....248............230...........18 sdakotaRN...........................255........... 255............230.........,..25 Babygrl1234.........................224........... 218............199............19 faithmd................................312........ ....311.3.........285............25.7 Jan421................................267......... ...267.............247...........20 Metalband...........................203........... ..201.............183...........20 tann............................223.........221. ........198........23 Banannie......................182..........179.8. ......162.......17.8 Josette........................322..........322... .......299........23 chickatee......................217.........217.... ......199........18 beachgirl......................270..........220... .......155........65 Marlluvia.......................220..........220.. ........200.......20 Jennifur........................222..........219.. ........200.......19 KariK............................179..........179. ..........155.......24 MarCar.........................296...........291.. . .........276......20 Punkeyb88...........................238........... ..238............... 220........ 18 Jadrad7........................243..........243.............220.......23 Denise.........................330..........265..............240.......25 Wen............................303...........303.............285.......18 SWEETY.......................217..........215............199.......16 Lochnagar....................249...........249............221.......28 :welcomeB: Lochnagar! Nope it is not too late to join, just remember to copy the latest set of numbers in someone's post, then paste it into the rply box and chnage your numbers as needed. You add yourself the same way (I added you this time, but now you'll know for the future).

It is time to find a new PCP. She is supposed to work for you. You (or your insurance company, or both) pay her for her services.

Clairabellleee, this is something I posted in another thread where someone was asking about eating four days out, and it may not all apply to you, but I think a lot of it is helpful information you may not have gotten. Hope this helps you! WARNING, this is very LONG, but if you are cheating and eating when you shouldn't be, it's also very IMPORTANT. Oh for goodness sakes, people!!!!! There is a REASON that you are told not to eat, it isn't to make you miserable. I will explain why below. Some docs are advancing their patients faster, but those numbers are VERY few. I don't think the data is there yet saying it's okay to eat more solid food so soon post-op, maybe there is, but I haven't seen it yet so I will do what my doc says and that is what makes sense. Here's my tough love speech: I remind myself of this everyday. It is NOT easy to stick with this diet, especially when so many other seem to be moving faster through the food stages than I am. But I do remind myself that moving slowly MAKES SENSE and my surgeon's group has had NO SLIPS (other than one that was totally the bandster's fault-eating things he really shouldn't a few days out). Ready? I am a person who wants data to back up most things a health care provider is doing to/for me. The Allergan website (the folks who MAKE the LapBand) says this about food stages: Post-Surgery Nutrition After surgery, you will need a new nutrition plan. Your surgeon and/or dietitian can help you learn about and get used to the changes in lifestyle and eating habits you need to make. It is very important to follow the eating and drinking instructions beginning immediately after the operation. In the first few weeks after your surgery, you will be on a liquid diet since only thin liquids will be tolerated by your stomach at that time. As you heal, you will gradually progress to pureed foods (three to four weeks post-op) and then soft foods (five weeks post-op). Finally, you will be able to eat solid foods. Granted perhaps there is new research that says prolonged periods on liquid diets are not necessary and the Allergan site just hasn't been updated yet. I would wonder what a surgeon who advances quickly's complication rate is and more specifically what their SLIP rates are? Are they advancing people faster because of the AP band and the selling point that it's less likely to slip because of it's width? Is there a study they can show you to support the shorter move to soft foods? Has surgical technique changed and is there a way now to access the back of the stomach (not previously accessed because of it's proximity to the spinal nerves) and suture the band (I haven't heard of it)? The reason for the liquid diet is because the band gets "seated" on the stomach and held in place by scar tissue that forms during the weeks we are taking in liquids. The stomach is a muscle, and that muscle has to churn and undulate to digest and move food through. Liquid requires little stomach movement to process. When we start to chew something, that lets our digestive system know that food is coming down, fluids begin to be secreted to aid in digestion and the stomach starts moving in preparation to start the breakdown of food. The band is held in place on the front of the stomach by sutures in the stomach where it is pulled up and over the top of the band, then sutured to itself. There is nothing holding the back in place, the surgeon tunnels behind the stomach to pull the band around and then scar tissue forms to hold it. That scar tissue can't form properly or as well if the stomach is churning and moving to digest. Kind of like pulling a paper cut on a knuckle apart every time you bend your finger, it takes forever to heal. At least that's what the band folks have said for years that is how it all happens. Perhaps someone somewhere has done a new study and what we've always believed is actually not right. It's possible, but not likely. Do you see now why I'm hesitant to eat early? Of course, if someone can show me concrete good data (not just a study with a sample of a few patients) that the longer liquid stage is not necessary, then I'll be happy to change my thought process. I look at it this way, if I were pregnant and my doc told me I had to be on liquids to keep my baby healthy, I cannot imagine being desperate enough to put my unborn child's health at risk. I'd be on that liquid diet PAST the date the doc told me to just to be on the safe side, wouldn't you? Why won't we protect OUR OWN health with just as much vigor? Why do we risk our own health when we know that being in liquids is for a finite period of time (two weeks, four weeks, six weeks, whatever)? Why on earth are we "cheating" and risking our bands? Just because something goes down okay doesn't mean it isn't setting us up for damage later. Damage we do now freshly banded may not show up until a year or two down the line. Maybe we have a bad episode of vomiting and because we just couldn't wait to chew, we didn't get good adhesion of scar tissue early on, it may slip. Really think about it, folks. If it were to protect an unborn life, we'd do anything. This band is the key to our new lives. I truly hope that no one thinks I am speaking down to them or judging them because they have slipped up. I certainly am not! I am trying to point out the reasons why it is so important to try to get back on that horse and toe the line as long as possible. I would never dare to say that merely being banded would end years of food issues. Lord knows if I could make it to 371, I have had some food issues, and continue to have them. I am posting my tough love because it is (as I said) something I have to say to myself every day, if not more often than that. I am by no means perfect. If we screw up, we screw up...Hopefully no harm done. Take the time to evaluate what happened and get back on the path you should be on. My concern is not so much for those who make a mistake once or twice, my concern is that there are so many out there who say, "Oh, it's okay, it went down fine so I guess I can do it." Or those who look at what other's diets are and advance theirs faster than their surgeon or nutritionist reccommended. But of note, the granddaddy of the band in the Western Hemisphere supports three weeks of liquids before moving to solids. My belief is that chewed really well most solids could be considered mushy so I totally understand the jump over mushy to solid. I post this because I truly do not believe that everyone got a good education about WHY they should be sticking to whatever liquid stage their surgeon or nutritionist wants them to. So often physicians have a tendency to say not to do something, but never explain the how and the why behind it. If you can give me a good reason for something, I'm much more likely to accept it. It somehow makes a tough thing a little more doable if I know that reason for it is important. I am not comparing being banded to being pregnant in any way. However, I am pointing out that we would all do the very best we can for a child, yet we tend to be lax when it comes to our own health. Perhaps we should have lots of counseling before we have a bariatric surgical procedure. I know that it is impossible to just say STOP and then do it. If we could say STOP to ourselves, we wouldn't have been fat. But the band requires so much from us, I think (or at least I hope) that we were all fully informed about the changes we were going to have to make after banding. It isn't easy. I knew it was going to be damned hard so when I got closer to being banded I started to practice behaviors that I read about here and other places. I started eating proteins first, I got baby utensils to eat small bites, I stopped drinking with my meals, I tried to get used to chewing, chewing, chewing (the hardest for me to do). I obviously could not have handled decreasing my intake amounts pre-band, but I did the best I could. I researched, researched, researched. Am I tooting my own horn? Am I the poster child for bandsters? NO! I am pointing out that I got to that "place," I came to that magical moment where I just couldn't take it anymore. I decided (as we all did) to have SURGERY to lose weight. What a crushing blow, to admit that I just couldn't do it alone. Well, I could probably lose some, but I knew it wouldn't stay off. I needed this tool, so I learned as much about it as I could, I learned why we do things. I think if you are going to go so far as to have surgery, you should take some accountability and not say, well, I couldn't do it before, so the band will just stop me. How many threads have we all read where someone thinks it's okay to be so tight they PB on just about everything because that's how they are losing weight? That is NOT good. That's not protecting the band, or ourselves. I am only trying to catch us (and myself) and support us being as healthy and proactive in this journey as we possibly can be. I want every single Bandster to be successful and healthy in their weight loss as they can.

Good point, but the Matrix and LOTR trilogies did well. Had they shot the movie at once and just released it a few months apart that would have worked, too. Or made and released the "full" version (like Titanic or GWTW-reallllly long) and had a "kid friendly" version, cut to more like 2 hrs.

This is why I REFUSE to watch PoOprah. I think she's a git. If I had her money, I'd hopefully be thin and hot, and I'd have the cahones to be honest and admit that Stedman is just a cover.

Not until you hear back from your appeal letter. But if you need to pursue it further, may I suggest you look into Obesity Law and Advocacy Center before you appeal again. They are pretty good as what they do, and don't charge an arm and a leg.

Oh I know, I just didn't know if you had seen the other one. I don't have a Wii so I haven't been back to the thread since early on. It does sound like a great "game" and good for us to do.

This has got to be one of the most asked questions here (hey, I got an idea for a thread...). The first six weeks or so after banding are NOT for weight loss. Your body is healing, it is hanging onto every calorie it can to repair tissue, etc. It is also adjusting to having been on very low calories for a while, and now that your caloric intake is increasing, it will even out. Some people GAIN weight during this time, its OKAY. I know that it is hard to not see the scale move, but it's not a magic fix, it will take time, but it will come. Just think, you have still lost some weight and are taking steps to make a healthier you. "I'm pulling for you, we're all in this together." - Red Green

I gotta get mine ordered! Right now I should be sitting in the IMAX at Henry Ford watching OOTP right now (the ending is in IMAX 3D), but alas I'm stuck up north for another night and Henry Ford got a free $26 extra dollars from me. Grrrrrr. Oh well, I'll go Tuesday night. I'm sure I will hate it, I freaking hated the GOF movie. OOTP sooooo should have been broken into two movies.

Hello Stacie, there have been a couple threads around here recently asking what restriction feels like for folks, or what a "sweet spot" means. From what I read on those threads it means something different for different people. I asked BooBooKitty one evening what the marble in my throat was and she told me that's what her restriction feels like. So now I know that's likely what mine will be, too. Which is kind of sad to me because I was hoping for that Thanksgiving Day stuffed feeling, not a Something Stuck In My Throat feeling. Lots of folks here have said they do get that "full" "satisfied" or "Ate a big meal" feeling. Scroll down to the bottom of this page and you'll find links to other threads asking a question similar to yours, perhaps reading others experiences will help. Hope this helps.

Y'all are playing, right? This is the third What is Slime and PB thread posted in the last two hours. Wow! It's a popular topic Here's a couple of links, one is to a thread that explains all the abbreviations. Hope this helps: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f84/pbs-slime-37956/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f73/abbreviations-what-they-mean-7959/

No, I just LOVE and use the search function all the time. Sliming seems to be when you start producing a large amount of thick slime and bring it up sometimes when things are stuck. Page to the bottom of this thread and there's a few more that ask the same thing, you might find something more there. Again, hope it helps. I haven't done it so I don't know how to describe it well.

JACK's BACK!!!! WooHoo!!!!

Here's another good Wii thread in the Exercise Forum: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f81/anyone-else-like-wiiiiiiiiii-37790/

Here's a link to a helpful thread. Heck, everything in the FAQ and reference forum is a must read. Hope it helps: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f73/abbreviations-what-they-mean-7959/